Blue Light
by despicably-you
Summary: Tessa's life was completely normal until Hydra had her injected with some energy from a glowing cube or whatever. Now Shield is pissed, Tessa's stuck with the Avengers for observation, and Captain America is acting weird.
1. In which there is an incident

Chapter I

Tessa sighed as she glanced at her watch for the millionth time that day. Only fifteen more minutes until her shift ended. She hated working at this seedy bar, but at least it paid the bills.

At that moment, the door swung open to reveal a man with the stiffest posture Tessa had ever seen. His straight nose and sharply defined chin gave him an air of purpose, and his black overcoat fell crisply over his dark brown suit. His eyes however, unnerved Tessa. They glided across the room steadily until they landed on her, recognition flashing in them.

The man turned and briskly walked to a corner table, while Tessa busied herself with wiping down the counter. _Five more minutes_. The man's eyes never left Tessa. _Five more minutes, then I'll just get a taxi as fast as possible._ She shook herself. _I'm probably just imagining it_, she thought.

"Bye Carl!" Tessa called as she untied her apron and grabbed her purse. When she turned to close the door behind her, she spied the man getting up to leave. Eyes widening, she hugged her purse to her chest and walked as fast as she could towards a main road. "He's not following you Tessa, calm down," she muttered.

She glanced behind herself to make sure, but sucked in a breath as she realized that, yes, the man was in fact following her. Her steps quickened and she cursed herself as she thought of the pepper spray sitting unused in her closet. Tessa's mother, ever paranoid, had given it to her when she moved to New York for college.

The man was gaining on her. Of course, the one time she needed a taxi in New York, there were none to be found. "Please God, please, please just let there be a taxi around this corner," Tessa whispered. "I promise to never ever complain about New York traffic again!" Without thinking, she turned at the next corner, only to find herself not on a street, but a dark alleyway. "How cliché. I'm going to get murdered in an alleyway."

Having stopped, she heard the man's footsteps draw closer and closer until he came into sight at the entrance to the alley. Eyes still never leaving her, he walked deliberately towards Tessa. For every step he took, she took one step back, until her back hit the grimy black wall behind her.

"P-please, sir, I don't have any money or anything! I promise, just—just leave me alone!" Tessa pleaded, her voice cracking. The man didn't reply. The hazy streetlamp gave just enough light to let the knife in his hand glint menacingly. _This can't be happening. Please just let this be a bad dream. _"Please just leave me alone!" Despite Tessa's begging, the man continued to advance.

Her heart pounded wildly, the blood roaring in her ears. Mind jumping back to the few self-defense classes her mother had forced her to take, she swung out her arm, but the man grabbed it without even looking. Jerking Tessa towards him, he raised the knife.

Except that now up close, Tessa could see it wasn't a knife, but some sort of syringe, containing a glowing blue liquid. She opened her mouth to scream, but he clamped his hand down on her face. The man jabbed the syringe into her neck, and immediately a white-hot sensation rushed through her entire body. Her vision faded and she felt the man wrap an arm around her and hoist her off the ground.

Suddenly gunshots sounded, or what she thought was gunshots, she wasn't really sure. The blood was rushing through her ears and there was strange ringing sound that wouldn't go away. The arm loosened and she felt herself flop to the ground like a fish.

Muffled voices made it through the haze, and she heard something about some kind of Hydra. _Isn't that some Greek myth? _Tessa thought before she blacked out.


	2. In which we meet Tony Stark

Chapter II

The ceiling above Tessa slowly came into focus. The glaring, hospital white unsettled her, and her head was pounding. Blinking, she tried to clear the strange electric glowing haze hovering in her peripheral vision. _Wait a minute_, Tessa thought. That clinical white ceiling was not what she was used to waking up to. Where was she?

Tessa tried to tilt her head to the side, but froze when she found it wouldn't budge more than an inch to either side. She jerked her arms up to try and free herself, but they were strapped down, too. Heart thumping and breaths shortening, she desperately struggled against the immovable binds.

"I wouldn't even try if I were you. Those straps are my own personal invention, they're not gonna give any time soon." Tessa froze at the unfamiliar voice sounding from somewhere behind her.

"A- at least undo the head one? I usually like to see who I'm being kidnapped by." She inwardly cursed at her voice breaking. She had to seem calm and relaxed. Psycho kidnappers only got more psycho if you freaked out.

"No can do babe, Fury'll kill me if you get loose. He's already pissed since I dyed his eye-patch red and gold. I can, however, loosen it a bit for ya." Tessa sighed as the strap on her head loosened with a whirring sound. "That better?" the voice asked.

"Uh-huh." Tessa replied. _Okay Tessa, stay calm, _she thought. _You'll find some way to get out of here. Oh god, what if this guy has me tied down for some weird experiment? Stop. Just breathe. _Tessa forced herself to breathe slowly and evenly, and with that the beeping of the machines gradually slowed down. _Maybe if I keep him talking he'll forget to torture me_, she thought. "Why am here?" she asked.

"All in good time, Sparky, all in good time," the voice answered. "Okay, time for bed, you need your rest." With that, a hissing noise began, and the ceiling grew hazy.

_He's gassing me!_ Tessa realized. "No! Please stop it! Just tell me where I am okay? I didn't do anything! You have the wrong person!" Tessa's shouts grew slower and slower and quieter and quieter until they faded out completely. _This day is just one giant pile of utter crap,_ was Tessa's last thought before she blacked out for the second time in a day.

Tony winced as he watched the girl slowly lose consciousness from the vapor. It was completely harmless, but she didn't know that. She didn't know anything, not about the Tesseract, Hydra, or even SHIELD. He wanted to explain everything to her, but he wouldn't have time before agents would come running in. Tony loosened all the straps a little more for her, especially the one on her head.

* * *

A knock sounded on the door before Agent Hill strode into the room. "Fury wants to know how the girl is doing."

"Vital signs are all good. Abnormally good, she's in perfect health," Tony replied.

"That was to be expected, wasn't it? I mean you know what she was injected with."

"Yeah, yeah I do," Tony absentmindedly answered. "She's scared though. Fury needs to get someone down here to explain everything to her."

"He wants to wait and see how her body reacts to the Tesseract over time," Agent Hill stated with a stone visage. "He says to give it a couple days, wake her periodically, and then we'll have someone talk to her." She turned to leave, but paused at the door. "Fury also said not to engage the girl in conversation… but I disagree. You should talk to her." Agent Hill walked out and gently closed the door behind her.

"…Fury is such a dick," Tony muttered. "And yes, Fury, I know you can hear me," he called up to the ceiling.


	3. In which things are explained

Chapter III

A cacophony of wildly beeping machines and blinking monitors interrupted Tony's concentration on his suit designs. Glancing up, he scrambled to make sense of the problem. "That's definitely very _very _not good," he muttered.

Pressing the intercom button to Fury's office, he yelled, "Fury, get your ass down here now! We have a serious problem!" Two minutes later, Nick Fury swept into the control room overlooking the chamber containing Tessa, Agent Hill walking briskly behind him.

"What's the issue, Stark? I thought she was stable." Fury's tone wasn't so much a question as it was a demand.

"She was until five minutes ago. She's still unconscious, but her body temperature is climbing, and her heart rate is out of control," Tony replied. "I've tried to stabilize her vital signs through the IV, but nothing's changed. I have no idea what it could be."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"I don't know Patchy, thought you gave the orders." Tony's signature snark never could stay away for long.

Fury glared at him with his good eye, but Tony felt daggers piercing through the patch as well. "Well then I order you to figure out what's wrong with her, and fix it!" Fury turned on his heel, but before Agent Hill closed the door, he called, "Oh and Stark. Do it fast."

Tony rolled his eyes at the command, but his fingers were already flying over the computer keys, searching for any clue as to what was wrong with the girl. Pressing the intercom button again, this time to a different room. "Hey Bruce, come on down your Hulking out room. I need to show you something."

* * *

Everything hurt. Blue and white flashed behind Tessa's eyes, and it was hard to breathe, as if there was something pushing down on her chest. Suddenly, she felt her eyes fly open, but she couldn't see.

But then, slowly, the light faded until she could see again. Her vision swimming, and ears ringing, she took a few deep breaths. Faint coughing registered in her mind, and as she instinctively turned her head to look, she gasped.

Destruction. Complete and utter destruction. As if a bomb had gone off. Glass shards and blinking lights and wires hanging from the ceiling. More coughing. "Hello?" Tessa called.

"Bruce? You okay?" That voice again. Tessa sat up, and she realized the straps that had been holding her down were now completely charred and disintegrated.

"Yeah Tony, I'm good." That was a new voice. _Get out before they find you awake,_ she thought to herself. Swinging her legs down from the bed she was lying on, she padded across the leveled room.

As soon as her feet hit the floor, a shrieking alarm went off. _MARY MOTHER OF GOD!_ Tessa nearly jumped out of her skin, and she scrambled back onto the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.

A dozen or so armed people in jumpsuits burst into the room, flanking some sort of bald pirate wearing a trench coat. _Great. More psychopaths, _Tessa thought to herself. _This really isn't my day. _

Behind the pirate stood two shorter men, their faces smoky and dirty, with parts of their eyebrows missing. The armed people simply stared ahead, while the pirate and the two men grimly surveyed the chaos. "Tessa Daniels," the pirate finally spoke after a tense silence.

"…Yeah?" Tessa said in a small voice.

"My name is Director Fury. You are currently in a SHIELD facility being held for observation—"

"Wait, what the hell is SHIELD?" Tessa interrupted.

One of the two men behind Director Fury spoke, "Stand for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

_That voice sounds familiar… _Tessa realized. "You should keep that as SHIELD. Sounds much better, and saves people a lot of time," she rambled. _Just keep the psychopaths talking. _"Wait—," she exclaimed. "You're the voice! The one that was talking to me when I woke up the first time."

"If I may continue…" Director Fury interjected before the man whom the voice belonged to could reply. "Thank you. As I was saying, you are currently being held in a SHIELD facility for observation, and for your safety, as well as everyone else's."

"Why?

"…That might be better to explain at another time."

_They can't do this._ They couldn't just keep her here, in some psychopathic government facility and then not explain what the hell they were going to do with her. Tessa felt her hands get hot, and her vision was tinged with blue. She gripped the edge of the bed she was sitting on, and growled, "Explain _now._"

Some of the agents' eyes widened and they slowly raised their weapons at Tessa. Fury held up a hand, and the agents lowered their weapons again. Taking a step forward, and speaking in a placating voice, Fury said, "Ms. Daniels, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down."

Taking a deep breath, Tessa replied in a strained voice, "I am calm Mr. Pirate-In-A-Trench-Coat. Now explain."

Fury sighed. "Follow Agent Hill here. She'll find you some clothes and bring you to my office."

"You know I kind of like the hospital gown look on her, Fury," the man had explained the acronym to her said. "The back part especially." He winked at her.

"Cool it, Stark," Fury cut in. _Wait, Stark, as in Tony Stark? Iron Man Tony Stark? This just keeps getting better and better._ Tessa glared at him.

The woman Fury had identified as Agent Hill stepped forward and gestured for Tessa to follow her. Tessa gingerly got up and began to walk towards her. As she passed Tony Stark, she huffed and yanked her hospital gown around to cover all of herself. He only grinned, but the other soot-covered man at least had the decency to look contrite.

* * *

The walk through the facility was silent. Agent Hill stared straight ahead and wasted no glances on Tessa. Any other agents they passed by took one look at Tessa and then their eyes darted away. Agent Hill stopped in front of a slate-gray door at the end of a long, long hallway.

"This is your new room," she stated quietly but with authority.

"What, no more high-tech chambers for me?" Tessa quipped.

"Not since you blew the last one up."

"I'm sorry?" Tessa asked, confused.

Agent Hill spared her a quick look and sighed. "Nevermind. Director Fury will explain everything. Clothes are laid out on the bed, and there's a bathroom to the right. I'll wait here." She pulled a card out of some invisible pocket in her jumpsuit and opened the door for Tessa.

Walking into the room slowly, Tessa saw another blue-grey jumpsuit ready for her. _I'm not wearing that,_ Tessa thought. She walked over to a room at the right, and jumped at the sight in the mirror.

Normally slightly curly brown hair was now a curious mix between bird's nest and spider-web, and the circles under her eyes were really embracing the black eye look. Tessa thanked everything that was good and holy that SHIELD had the foresight to lay out a hairbrush for her.

She quickly washed herself as best she could, and attempted to wrestle with her hair before giving up. Tessa reluctantly pulled on the jumpsuit and grudgingly walked out of the small room.

* * *

Nick Fury stared at the girl sitting across from him, and she stared back at him. Both refusing to speak first, both refusing to look away. Her glowing blue eyes did make him slightly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, and victory danced in her eyes. _Dammit._

"Why don't I start at the beginning Ms. Daniels," he said. "And don't interrupt." Tessa narrowed her eyes at him, but his little show of power was necessary to maintain control. "The man who attacked you in the alley worked for an organization called Hydra. He infiltrated our facility and stole something from us. Something called the Tesseract."

Fury slid a piece of paper over to Tessa. Her eyes were fixated on the glowing blue cube in the center of the photo. The same electric blue that flashed behind her eyes when she woke up.

"The Tesseract is a source of energy, infinite energy. Many people are interested in it-"

"So why do you have it?" Tessa interrupted.

Fury eyed her. "…We got there first. Now, when the agent stole the Tesseract, he took the energy in a syringe, and injected you with it. We believe his assignment was to bring you back to Hydra to be used as a weapon."

"But why me? Why would they pick a 22 year old bartender?"

Nick Fury sighed. "Ms. Klein, your father wasn't business man. He worked for SHIELD, and last year, Hydra killed him."

**Hi my loves! So this chapter is longer than the previous ones, and I think this is about the length I'm going to shoot for for the next chapters. That does mean updates will take a bit longer. Thanks for reading and please please please review! **


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